Internet Mogul Acquires Washington Post

Internet Mogul Acquires Washington Post

Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of online giant Amazon.com and 19th richest man in the world, has purchased The Washington Post for $250 Million.

This acquisition has already stirred controversy within the public. Questions of whether this shift in power will jeopardize the esteemed publication’s journalistic integrity are rampant.

What does this mean for the future of news?

Private money has funded countless reputable news organizations for decades: the Murdoch family owns nearly 170 print news sources; Disney owns ABC, one of the largest networks in the country; Bain Capital, founded by former Presidential nominee Mitt Romney, owns 866 radio stations and Premiere Radio Networks.

The list goes on. Nearly every form of communication and information, from national nightly news to local community stations to weekly news magazines, is owned by one of 7 corporations.

With this perspective, Bezos’ entry is rather modest. Perhaps it is his background that is generating interest. Just three days prior, John Henry, Boston Red Sox owner, purchased the Boston Globe for just $70 Million, but that story didn’t have quite the staying power of the Post’s acquisition.

Bezos has shown immense prowess in online commerce. He has guided Amazon from an unknown tech startup to a staple of the online community, with a net worth nearing $90 Billion. With users shifting from subscription-based sources to web sources, perhaps Bezos is just the force necessary to push the struggling news media industry into the 21st century.

Only time will tell what the internet mogul has in store for The Post.